Salon Pictures Sets Up Israeli Spy Feature Doc With Kew Media Group

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Taussig and Paul Van Carter’s Salon Pictures is to produce a feature documentary about the mysterious death of an Israeli spy and has closed an international sales deal with distributor Kew Media Group.

The Cancer Conflict director Tom Meadmore, who has worked with Salon on docs including Fred and The Guv’Nor, will direct The Spy Who Fell To Earth, based on a Dr. Ahron Bregman’s eponymous book. Salon negotiated the rights to Bregman’s book for use in the feature doc with Emma Topping Entertainment.

The film will explore the story of Egyptian millionaire and arms dealer and Israeli spy Ashraf Marwan, who lived in the UK since the early 1980s. Marwan plummeted from his fifth floor London flat shortly after midday on 27 June 2007. However, it’s not clear whether he jumped or was pushed. Marwan, who was also married to Mona Abdel Nasser, daughter of the former Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was unmasked and later befriended by Bregman.

It is the latest documentary for Churchill producer Salon, which was established in 2012. It comes as the company is gearing up to release Alexander McQueen doc McQueen, which is being released in the first quarter of next year by Bleecker in the US, Lionsgate in the UK, and Prokino in Germany, and Fred, a film about former gangster Freddie Foreman set for release through Lionsgate UK in Q2, 2018. Kew Media Group’s latest slate of docs includes Whitney Houston doc Can I Be Me and Manolo Blahnik doc Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards.

Bregman called the doc an “exciting collaboration”, while Taussig added: “In the foreword to Dr. Bregman’s book on his relationship with Ashraf Marwan, he writes, ‘There are moments in a man’s life which are imprinted on his mind and which he carries with him to the end. One such moment is when I learned of the brutal death of Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian who worked as a Mossad spy.’ This represented a brilliant dramatic premise for a documentary film.”

Kew Media President of Distribution Greg Phillips added: “We’re very pleased to secure international sales on this remarkable new documentary from Salon Pictures. Kew Media has a strong reputation for showcasing intelligent, immersive documentary features that tell globally-relevant stories, and we look forward to working with the exceptional team at Salon Pictures to bring The Spy Who Fell To Earth to a worldwide audience.”